Fleet Feet Pepper Pike — Local services in Pepper Pike

(I bumped up my rating for only 1 reason - diligent, respectful, honest, constructive communication from Jody around clarifying their perspective. We still disagree, but his intentions are so clearly good, well, hard not to give that it's due.)

Have had good luck here until today - my wife and I have purchased many pairs of shoes over the last few years. Went in with a defective sole (conspicuous defect, heel section fell off after moderate use; they said they'd never seen anything like it). Shoes had cost $180 and I'd purchased 3 pair from them (all failed, bizarrely!). They said they couldn't/wouldn't do anything and that I should call the manufacturer directly and see if they would do anything. Really? So why would I ever shop again here? I usually try to support local shops rather than online, but I will rethink that in this case. UPDATE: Found them almost 20% less expensive online - where I just ordered 2 replacement pair - which I was planning to buy at Fleet Feet, had I had a better experience.

AFTER SEEING A PROMPT, RESPECTFUL BUT SOMEWHAT INACCURATE RESPONSE FROM JODY, BELOW, I REPLIED: True, the shoes you mentioned are from Feb-April of last year (total on both receipts, by the way, is $712.00 - including the other shoes/inserts purchased - not an insignificant sale). And those are not my/our only purchases - those are just the ones found during the quick search today. I have 3 pair, all purchased from you, and my wife has purchased other shoes from you as well.

At no point did I REQUEST - NOR EXPECT - that you would take 1, 2 or all 3 of these pairs of shoes back and give me a single free replacement. I just found it to be MUCH worse wear on the soles than any other pair of shoes I’ve ever owned, and your sales person took one look and said “WOW! I have NEVER seen this before.” Kind of indicates a likely defect, not “normal wear and tear”, right?

What I asked for

Well, just came back from there (4/7/19). Caught my eye because of stellar reviews and personal fit the place seem to offer. Guy and a girl at the store. Told them that I have not been running for the past 4 years and trying to get back and probably run once a week. The girl was very friendly. However, the guy is the one that "helped" me and the review can be based only on that. He showed me a wall and said all the men's running shoes are on that area. I went over and looked up and down at the shoes. He came over and I told him what I used to wear from Saucony. He pointed a comparable Saucony. I asked about fitting, he said they look at how I walk and fit me with one and ifit is more for orthotics and such. I told him what my old shoes drop was and asked whether anything lower, and he showed me another shoe with a heel drop of 4. He then waked over to the counter to help someone checkout and never came back. (the girl was helping another customer that walked in - seems she was actually helping). I looked around the store for couple minutes and thanked him and left. Went to get a treadmill running shoe and a trail running shoe and came empty handed. Wasted $6 for gas and an hour of my time. The fact is the guy at the store did not offer anything or ask even a single question to fit me with a proper shoe which is contrary to most reviews. As I mentioned earlier, I can only rate the store based on my experience with...

I’m giving this review 2 stars solely because the associate I initially worked with was polite and helpful at the time. However, the overall customer service experience has been disappointing.

I visited the store on a Thursday looking for a specific shoe size, which they didn’t have in stock. The associate checked the system and confirmed that the Youngstown location (about an hour away) had it. She even called that store, and they agreed to send the pair over. I was told the shoes would arrive by the following Wednesday at the latest, which seemed reasonable.

Out of curiosity, I checked the website on Monday to look at other color options, and noticed the shoes were listed as “in stock” at the Pepper Pike location. Thinking the shoes may have arrived and I simply hadn’t been notified, I called the store. A different employee answered and quickly told me they didn’t have them — without checking or offering much help.

It’s now Thursday, and I still haven’t received any kind of update or follow-up. I find it hard to believe that it takes over a week to transfer shoes from a store just an hour away. At the very least, a courtesy call would’ve gone a long way.

Unfortunately, due to the lack of communication and follow-through, I’ll be taking my...